Infected
| image = File:Infected.jpg | imagewidth = 250px | caption = Concept artwork of an Infected | title = | speed = Slow-Fast | weapon = None | aggression = High | danger = Low-Moderate | location = Everywhere on the Island | health = }} The Infected is the quick sprinting class of Zombie. Infected most often spawn immobile in the environment, but will produce a shrill scream and sprint directly toward a player when in range, quickly closing the distance and striking with surprising force and speed. Infected swing their arms wildly while sprinting towards you. Previously, their attack could interrupt player actions. Infected are significantly faster than Walkers and Thugs, but have far less health. Infected can often be dispatched with one or two melee weapon attacks, especially when struck in the head. Infected are relatively dangerous, especially when dealing with more than one at a time, and should be fought with caution, as they can quickly deplete your health due to the speed with which they attack. Appearance Infected have bloodshot eyes and small red lesions on their skin, but lack the gaping wounds and decay that most Walkers exhibit. In fact, many of them still have intact clothing and what appear to be fresh bandages. In this way Infected appear largely like a living human (indeed many NPCs find themselves mortally wounded because they cannot easily distinguish between the Infected and a survivor in need of rescue). They are distinguishable up close by their snarling demeanor and the skin worn off of their hands, exposing the muscle underneath, most likely torn off due to heavy clawing of doors and survivors. This suggests that Infected are humans undergoing the first stages of the zombification process and that, as the infection takes hold, they would eventually transform into Walkers -- gaining the increased health (and drastically reduced speed) perhaps by means of rigor mortis. Behavior If observed from a distance without being detected, Infected walk around at a faster pace than Walkers, and with a noticably different posture. They will occasionally snarl, and this too can be heard in advance of their detecting the player. However, Infected have a longer range of vision than Walkers, and so will frequently detect the player before the player spots them. Occasionally, they can also detect the player non-visually, but this is always script-triggered, initiated either by a quest event, or by setting foot in a certain specific location. Upon detecting the player, Infected pause to scream and then sprint to attack. They are impossible to outrun on foot and have some limited climbing ability. Infected strike fast with a series of flailing melee attacks that interrupt player actions (note: effect removed as of patch 1.3), and they are much faster at getting back to their feet than Walkers if knocked down. Because of their speed, Infected can be difficult to keep track of in close combat, and many quest-related events feature points where multiple Infected will attack at once, sometimes from different directions. Also note that although wading through shallow standing water will slow the player down, Infected seem to be immune to this and have unchanged movement speed. In the city of Moresby, Infected wearing helmets can be randomly encountered, and they have slightly higher health and damage resistance than normal Infected. Rarely, an Infected holding a basic melee weapon can be encountered -- this variety is especially ''dangerous, particularly if its a cutting weapon, and if the Infected lands their full combo of melee attacks with the weapon they can immediately kill even a high-level player with full health. Unlike Walkers, Infected holding a weapon ''do not ''throw them at the player. Tips *A correctly timed headshot from a quality melee weapon will almost always instantly kill a helmet-less Infected; if an attack on an Infected is inflicted ''while the Infected is sprinting (i.e. in the instant before it reaches you, or at distance with a thrown weapon), extra Force value is added to the attack, which significantly increases the probability of an immediate decapitation or headsmash, or limb dismemberment/break. Obviously, weapons with longer reach make this feat much easier to achieve in melee. *There is a x2 damage multiplier applied to any attacks that connect with an Infected's head (note: Walkers only have a x1.25 multiplier for attacks to the head). *Hitting an Infected's legs mid-sprint with a decent blunt weapon will knock the Infected off its feet. *A thrown cutting weapon capable of severing limbs can sever a sprinting Infected's leg, which always results in an instant-kill. *In game, NPCs will give advice related to dealing with Infected, usually mentioning Molotov cocktails or other fire based attacks. Although very effective when implemented properly, switching to a thrown weapon can take too much time in many cases, as Infected can close significant distances in just a few seconds. Use Molotov cocktails with caution, as being caught with no effective close-range weapon in hand when they make contact can result in death. *Jump kicks, or head kicks will more easily knockdown infected, giving the player time to safely attack. *Avoid getting surrounded at any time, as multiple attacks can quickly drain your health, resulting in a quick death. *You can use corners, doorways and structures to line up decapitations on multiple dead. As they reach the corner or doorway they will pause for a moment. During this time a swing can decapitate multiple zombies or cut their limbs off if crouched. *Jumping up on barrels or certain structures can allow multiple enemies to surround you but not kill you. By crouching and swinging downwards at the surrounding zombies a player can then decapitate or crush the heads of the attackers. *Try grouping the zombies together, this allows a single swing to hit multiple opponents. i.e. kicking them down on top of one another allows swings to cut off or crush bones on each overlaying one and the one behind or below it. *Vehicles are great against these zombies as they will run in a direct line towards the vehicle and group up behind it to chase, making driving over them quite easy. Keep in mind that they can still strike players if they get close enough to a window. *Shooting an Infected will stumble it momentarily, allowing you to line up additional shots. This technique can be used to 'stumble-lock' an Infected, effectively preventing them from retaliating. *Take care when using Molotovs - Infected run faster when on fire, which means throwing one directly at an Infected will cause them to sprint towards you at an alarming speed, and deal even more damage to you due to their flaming fists. To prevent this, throw the Molotov on the ground in front of them - they will have to run through the entire length of the flames in order to reach you, and will usually die before they even get to you. *If in open space and there are at least two Infected, you may let them get closer and at the right moment, jump back. If done correctly, they should stop and start flailing their arms around. During that time they are very vulnerable allowing for an easy kill. Trivia *The Infected encountered at the end of the Prologue chapter are level 50, and have ten times health and damage. *Infected don't always give themselves away by sound. Sometimes they can attack in silence, doing a lot of damage in a short space of time. *Infected also tend to spawn randomly, sometimes in close proximity to the player. This can lead to surprise attacks doing a lot of damage. *In the city of Moresby's quarantined area (marked and partially sealed off by erected white walls topped with barbed-wire), infinite Infected spawn, in ones and twos, from a second-story location overlooking the area with white medical tents, and will immediately zero in on the player. As a result, this area is perhaps the most dangerous location in the game, especially since the Infected are capable of climbing and reaching some of the roofs and catwalks. *It is possible to sever an Infected's arm without killing it, in which case the Infected will immediately cease attacking and clutch its stump, contrary to Walkers. But this is very rare, as an Infected's low health threshold leaves a very small window for this to take place. Severing both arms is always an instant-kill, also contrary to Walkers. *Infected have a script in their AI, disabled by default, that allows them to regenerate health every time they 'taunt' (i.e. pause and scream). Players looking for a greater challenge can enable this function by setting ParamFloat("regeneration_probability", 1.0) ''in the ''infected_data.scr file (open with notepad). *They seem to be the buggiest zombie in the game, so it's not rare for them to get glitched into something. Videos thumb|450px|left Category:Zombies Category:Article stubs Category:Enemies